Last time after looking at how Elijah snatched personal defeat from the jaws of God's victory by turning from pivot politics to power politics we started a study on the book of Mark and did a brief overview of the background of Mark who is eventually identified as the one who wrote it because it was not immediately attributed to him

In the book of Mark we will see the contrast between our Lord's authority and identity as the Messiah and King and his role of being the servant of God that creates an enigma because of the paradox that is created when Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords is simultaneously the suffering servant.

In Mark we will see that pivot politics as represented by the Servant instead of power politics as represented by the King is to be the believers present role in the devil's world because just as our Lord's kingdom was not of this world. John 18:36; and neither is ours Phil 3:20;

Mark 1:1; The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. A direct word for word literal translation from the Greek is "Beginning of the good message of Jesus Christ Son of God"

He does not begin with a genealogy like Matthew and Luke he begins abruptly announcing the beginning of the gospel or "good news". The Greek that is translated "beginning" is the singular nomative of "arche" that means origin, first or beginning.

The Greek word translated "gospel" is the genitive of "euaggelion" that means "good news" or "happy news" This good news is of "Jesus Christ, Son of God"

In Rom 1:16; Paul refers to this "gospel of Jesus Christ" as "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..."

2Cor 4:4; describes this good news as being what " the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." from.

Paul defines this gospel of Jesus Christ in 1Cor 15:3-4; For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

v4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…

This is the message that we have as ambassadors for Christ in the devil's world. 2Cor 5:18-21;

Mark presents this "gospel of Jesus Christ" where the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the climactic moment where Jesus Christ the "Son of God," Israel's Messiah (Mark 15:39;), is paradoxically victorious through His death on the cross that automatically results in his exaltation as king under the principle of pivot politics. 2Cor 12:9; Phil 2:5-9;

The cross is where the "Lamb of God" who was slain from the foundation of the world is qualified to be the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" under the principle of pivot power. Rev 5:3-10;

Mark 1:2-3; is a reference to the prophecy in Isa 40:3; quoted in Mal 3:1;The quotation comes from Mal. 3:1; and Isa. 40:3;. It was common to combine quotations from the prophets in chains of quotations. This is Mark's only prophetic quotation.

In Malachi's day, about 420 BC the Jews were about to go down under the 5th cycle of discipline and the thing that preserved them was evangelism.

The result of Malachi's message was national evangelism, believer's witnessing and prophets preaching. That resulted in the fall of the nation being postponed for over four hundred years. This recovery and rebuilding was the result of the spiritual factor under the principle that the Divine solution is the only solution.

Jesus Christ is the inevitable solution now. "Behold" is the Greek word "idou" that can also be translated "look" and means to look and concentrate on is calling attention to the fact that it is necessary for a message to exist. Before people can come to their senses and stop being deluded by the Satanic lie that will destroy them, they must have a message.

The change must come to the individual and so it is a personal message to individuals in a national entity and the message must begin with the gospel. The gospel speaks of the principle of grace and the planning of grace from eternity past.

The function of the plan involves Jesus Christ in his unique person and work. National evangelism that is the beginning of recovery doesn't mean that everyone responds but it means that everyone has the opportunity to respond.

The word translated "send" is the Greek word "apostello" that means to "send forth" the word is later transliterated as "apostle"

"my messenger" is the Hebrew word is "malak" the Greek word is "aggelos". The prophecies wrote the Old Testament had an immediate or contemporary message for the people, known as a near fulfillment and a future message or far fulfillment..

We often emphasize the future and fail to look at the contemporary. The word "malak", is where we get the word " Malachi", means to speak or to communicate the noun form here means "my messenger" or Malachi.

We do not know Malachi's real name but that isn't important, it is his message that is important The messenger is the prophet who is speaking to the people in 420 BC. So we have a near fulfillment that is a contemporary message to the people but there is also a far fulfillment that refers to John the Baptist in Mark 1:2; and other New Testament passages.

It also has application to us today because the principles that are stated are the same principles we need for national recovery. National recovery does not depend on the leaders of a country or the passing of laws, passing laws cannot solve man's problems.

You can't pass laws telling people what to think, what to say, and what to do. You cannot legislate social life. These are not the responsibility of government and when employed they result in tyranny that results in civil war.

This passage also has a very far fulfillment that has to do with the nation Israel at the Second Advent, and the Millennium when they are restored. All of these things are in view in this passage.

When this was initially written "my messenger," or Malachi was an unknown prophet who lived in 420 BC, but "my messenger" also refers also to John the Baptist who is the herald of the first advent of Jesus Christ.

We see from this that what is ultimately in view is the advents of Jesus Christ and their relationship to man. The herald comes first and announces that the King will come.

The words translated "ahead of you" are the Greek words "mou pro" that literally mean "before your face" and can also be translated as "before you" and in our passage it means that John the baptizer is going to precede the arrival of Jesus Christ and announce His arrival.

"he will prepare" is prophetical and refers to John the baptizer. The word in the Hebrew is the piel perfect of the verb "panah, that means to clear the way or to clarify the situation. The piel stem is intensive and it is the perfect tense that means he fulfils his mission.